Election-related confusion mounting in Bangladesh

Election-related confusion mounting in
Bangladesh

by NJ ThakuriaSeptember 15,
2013

Political crisis and confusion galore
are mounting in Bangladesh over the next general election,
which must be completed between October 25, 2013 and January
24, 2014. Before the fiver-year term of the present Awami
League led coalition government is over by December 2013, it
has to pave way for handing over the political power to a
new regime elected by the millions of voters in the populous
country.

With the 15th amendment of Bangladesh
Constitution in June 2011, the ruling Sheikh Hasina Wajed
government is sitting pretty to conduct the polls to form
the next Parliament. Prior to the amendment, it was
necessary for the government in Dhaka to resign and form a
non-party interim government to run the national
election.

The Prime Minister Hasina has made it clear in
many occasions that she would not go for a caretaker
government and declared that the forthcoming 10th national
election would be held under her Awami League led incumbent
government as the Constitutional amendment had already
scrapped the provision for a caretaker or interim
government. For the ruling Awami League coalition, which has
altogether 262 Members in the National Parliament, the
Constitutional amendment was an easier exercise.

However,
the Khaleda Zia led Bangladesh Nationalist Party maintains
its demand that the government should bring a non-party
neutral government bill in the ongoing session of Parliament
beginning on September 12 to settle the issue relating to
the polls. Begum Zia argues that the present Parliament must
be dissolved before the general election.

Terming the
Bangladesh Election Commission as a puppet of the government
and worthless, the BNP chief Khaleda Zia argued that the
nation can not expect a fair election under the present
electoral statutory body of Bangladesh.

The debate gained
a different dimension, while Nobel winning Bangladeshi
economist Dr Muhammad Yunus voiced for a non-party caretaker
government to conduct the polls such that the process gets
credibility and be acceptable to everyone.

“There’s no
scope to have a free, fair and peaceful election without a
non-party neutral government,” asserted Prof Yunus
recently. The statement of Prof Yunus, who was removed by
the Hasina government as the Managing Director of
internationally recognized Grameen Bank in March 2011, has
been taken as a major political stand since he initiated for
a political party six years back.

Soon after the Nobel
award conferred jointly on him and his creation Grameen Bank
in 2006, Prof Yunus decided to form a political party named
Nagarik Shakti (People’s Power), but later he abandoned
the idea. Most of the political observers based in Dhaka
believe that the rivalry between him and the present Prime
Minister Hasina started since then.

As the point of views
of Prof Yunus on the impartial election-time government
matches with the opposition party, the ruling Awami League
leaders have left no stone unturned to criticize and condemn
the lone Nobel awadree of Bangladesh.

Understanding the
crisis in Bangladesh is deepening, the UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon tried to mediate for a dialogue between the two
leading political coalitions led by Awami League and
Bangladesh Nationalist Party. The UN Secretary-General
called both the important ladies Hasina Wajed and Khaleda
Zia on August 23 over phone and discussed about the upcoming
national elections. Responding to the queries of Ban
Ki-moon, the Prime Minister had reportedly assured of a free
and credible election in Bangladesh to form the next
Parliament. She also added that the election would be held
as per the provisions of the Constitution.

Similarly,
Khaleda Zia had informed the UN Secretary-General that her
party expects an independent Election Commission to conduct
the general election under a caretaker government.
Otherwise, the BNP would not take part in the national polls
under the Awami League led coalition government. However the
opposition leader agreed to Ban Ki-moon that there was no
alternative to dialogue to resolve the present political
crisis in Bangladesh.

Voices of concern were also
expressed by various countries and international agencies
like the United States of America, United Kingdom, European
Union etc on the Bangladesh political situation and every
one urged the local political party leadership to go for
dialogues and find out a compromised way to proceed for the
general election.

Though the Awami League government
claims success in curbing terrorism and corruption in the
country, the voters had shown rejection to the party in the
last corporation polls in five major cities of
Bangladesh.

If the results of elections held this year to
five city corporations (of Gazipur, Rajshahi, Barisal,
Sylhet and Khulna), it can be observed that the opposition
parties have recorded sweeping victories. The loss incurred
by the ruling party in the polls for the corporations is the
recent indication that the outcome of the forthcoming
general election may not go in favour of Awami League and
also Hasina Wajed.

Ms Hasina now smells an international
conspiracy that might try ‘to block Awami League's return
to power for another term’. Addressing a party meeting
recently in Dhaka, Hasina Wajed asserted that some people
may not like that her government had achieved much success
and many international elements would not like to see
Bangladesh developing in a faster way than ever before under
her
leadership.

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